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It's for a Good Cause, So Shut Up and Deal

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - POKER night at the Redhook Ale Brewery: dozens of stony-faced players, eyes concealed by hats and sunglasses, empty plastic beer cups stacked neatly by their sides, focused on annihilating the competition and collecting the $4,000 top prize.

But unlike most Texas Hold 'Em poker tournaments, this gathering had a purpose other than fattening the winner's wallet and ego: raising money for the Seacoast Repertory Theater, a nonprofit theater in Portsmouth, the biggest city on New Hampshire's short coastline.

The theater is one of many small organizations trying to piggyback on the popularity of poker -- especially the Texas Hold 'Em version -- on television and the Internet. Standbys like golf tournaments, bingo and car washes are often being replaced by Texas Hold 'Em competitions. The tournaments, organizers said, are a way of drawing in people who don't normally attend fund-raisers.

"Like every other nonprofit, we're always searching for something new in the way of fund-raising, a new way of bringing in unearned income," said Stacy Baker-Chilicki, director of marketing and publicity at the Seacoast theater. "This is a general appeal to a whole different section of the population. They want to play poker in a state where there's no gambling. We're filling a need, and if we can benefit from it, even better."

At one eclectic table by the door, Debbie Thomas, 39, of Hampton Falls, N.H., played with a group of men, many in baseball caps and sunglasses and one in a cowboy hat, stringy, shoulder-length brown hair sticking out underneath. Ms. Thomas, a photographer and first-time poker player, had seen an advertisement for the tournament and decided to give it a try. The $125 entry fee, she said, helped her learn how to play, and the proceeds will benefit the theater, which she sometimes attends. She was no slouch, getting the guy in the cowboy hat to bet all his chips on a losing hand. "If I lose it all it still goes to the Seacoast Rep, and if I win I'll have extra money," she said. "It's a bonus."

Others, like Bruce Angeski, 50, of Hampton Beach, N.H., frequent the booming charity poker tournament circuit in southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts as a way to gamble without driving nearly three hours to the closest casinos, in Connecticut.

He was there for the prize, period. "I don't care what it's for," Mr. Angeski said. "I want to win this thing."

Legality is another question that nonprofit groups must grapple with. The rules for such events vary from state to state, but many treat poker nights like bingo or other gambling games in which the organization makes a profit, usually limiting the number of events and requiring registration with the Internal Revenue Service.

In New Hampshire, only nonprofit organizations registered with the secretary of state's office for at least two years can hold gambling events like poker tournaments.

In Philo, Ohio, Ric Roe arranged a poker night to benefit the Philo High School wrestling team, which he coaches. Mr. Roe, who plays poker every Monday night with his buddies, got the idea after returning from Iraq in March and seeing poker all over television.

"A T-shirt sale might make $300 and take two or three weeks," Mr. Roe said. "In poker, you can generate $3,000 in one day. It's easier to get people to come and gamble than to buy stuff off of you."

Small groups across the board are holding tournaments. The Good News Church in Edison, N.J., had a successful fund-raiser in October, complete with homemade Asian food and a $100 Banana Republic gift certificate as a payoff. The United Way of Merrimack Valley in Lowell, Mass., raised $31,000 in two poker fund-raisers, and is planning its third this year. The Baxter Library in Mountain Home, Ark., is mulling a poker night to raise money for a new library, and a historical society in Laconia, N.H., generated thousands in proceeds from two tournaments.

Terry Axelrod, chief executive of Raising More Money, a consulting business that works nationally with nonprofit groups, thinks that gambling fund-raisers detract from an organization's mission. Successful fund-raising, she said, requires educating people about the organization so they will continue to give because of the charity.

"That's what fund-raising is about. It's not about poker. It's not about entertainment," she said. "I think mixing them with a real solid mission is dangerous."

But Ms. Baker-Chilicki of the theater says she is willing to stick with poker while it's profitable. "Our goal is not to be in the gambling industry," she said. "But it's the canasta of the millennium, and we're seeing a craze."